Thursday, September 27, 2007

Today's recipe video is a very simple broccoli "alia olia," but it's also a good example of the proper way to use vegetables in pasta. I almost never order veggie pasta in a restaurant. The main reason is that the vegetables are almost never cooked properly, or I should say prepped properly. Take this broccoli pasta as an example. In a restaurant the same ingredients would be used, but all broccoli pieces would be added at the same time. So, by the time the stems were tender the tops would be mush, or even worse, the tops would be perfect and the stems hard and crunchy.

You have to have a game plan when doing a vegetable pasta. If you are using vegetables that have different cooking times, you can't add them all at the same time, yet that's what most people do. One strategy is to cut the longer cooking veggies smaller and leave the more tender veggies larger, so they all cook at about the same time. Another trick is to precook the denser vegetables, like carrots, before combining them with less dense things like squash.

In this pasta, I separate the tops and stems of the broccoli. I basically make a sauce with the diced (and much tougher) stem pieces, and the tender flowers at the end so I get a nice uniform doneness. Anyway, all that being said, this is a delicious way to eat that broccoli all those doctors' keeps talking about. By the way, if you're a Chef that remembers the "garnish the edge of the plate" era (explained in clip), I'd love to get a comment from you. What we're we thinking? Enjoy!

(I'm going to try embeding two video players, from both YouTube and Brightcove, in case one of the sources is down, or one works better on your browser than the other. The Youtube embed is a smaller player, but not as temperamental as the larger Brightcove version.)

hi chef john!just wondering, how many people would a recipe like this serve?i mean, i'd just need to make it for my mum and i, so thats 2 people, and a pound of pasta is a lot for just two of us!!thanks

i wouldn't say no to leftovers, but bearing in mind im at school all day, it'd be hard to find a suitable time to eat it...for some reason i have this thing against re-heated pasta... i know the flavours have developed more, but for some reason i just don't like the idea!!

Just finished eating this for lunch! It came out very well, although since I usually don't care much for exact quantities I ended up with about half the amount of broth, pasta and broccoli, but I still had 6 cloves of garlic :)

Thanks for a great blog and recipes, it has really put the fun back into cooking!

Hey chef John!!! I'm an art student (starving artist) All the reciepes are awesome! But I'm having a few problems finding things like pork tenderloin (which I agree is AMAZING) and chicken stock. Brodo Pollo as that call it, but I can't find it. But keep up the nice kitchen creations, and the rest of us will keep eaten good. ha ha Ciao! Harry P.S. What are your thoughts on Alton Brown (good eats) I was just wondering. lol

My friends offten call me chef. When I was married to a purchaser for SERykof, I sometimes cooked for pro chefs in my home. I remember the era you speak of, but as a diner. Pretty and impractical, though I sometimes still use it with desserts. You know, .... big finish.

I love your web and your video and your sense of humor. Every dish I made turned out to be so good that my daughter said "Is this from Chef John, mom? Thank you so much. Beside making my cooking easier, you always make me laught. Thanks a lot.Tik

Simple and excellent. I always wondered how to make this dish as we order it from our favorite Italian deli in Las Vegas ($10 a plate). My children said it was as good or better then theirs. As a bonus they ate and loved the brocolli. It was a pleasure making a donation to your site.

I loved this dish as a child, macaroni and broccoli. It's also amazing cold the next day for quick packed lunch. Of course my mom didn't go through the trouble of cutting the stems and stuff, but I will try this version for company.

I just wanted you to know that you are my new best friend! lol! You have given me the knowledge and confidence to do more than the everyday cooking. I have always wanted to take a gourmet cooking course. My family have been my guinea pigs and so far no complaints! I watch videos on a daily bases and plan meals to the videos. Keep them coming! The humor as well! Thanks again for posting.

I made this as a side dish (added some chopped spinach to the pasta) to the crouton/chicken parmesan recipe that was posted and it was amazing. Made a ton of food for only myself, but I ate the entire thing.